A new kindergarten year is an exciting time for families, children and early childhood education staff.
Learn more about the year ahead and use resources to welcome families and share information with your community.
Please share this article with early childhood teachers and educators in your service.
Snapshot for 2026
- The Pre-Prep roll-out continues in 12 more local government areas. These are Benalla, Buloke, Corangamite, East Gippsland, Horsham, Loddon, Mansfield, Mitchell, Pyrenees, Strathbogie, Wangaratta and Wodonga.
- Early Learning Victoria will open 14 new government-run early learning and childcare centres. These will open at Clunes, Frankston, Hallam, Gamadji (Mickleham South), Noble Park, Numurkah, Portland South, Shepparton, Kings Park, Teesdale, Murrum (Toolern Waters), Wedderburn, Werribee and Umarkoo (Wollert).
- Pre-Prep has launched statewide for children prioritised for early access. This includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children from a refugee or asylum seeker background. It also includes children who have had contact with Child Protection services. Children from these cohorts can access up to 25 hours of Pre-Prep per week. This will increase to up to 30 hours from 2028.
- Free Kinder continues, benefiting up to 145,000 children and their families.
- The Three-Year-Old Kindergarten roll-out continues, with hours continuing to increase to 15 hours per week.
- Kinder Kits are back again for 2026. They are available for every eligible child enrolled in Three-Year-Old Kindergarten. For more information, refer to Kinder Kits.
Resources available
There are resources to help services mark the start of the year, welcome families and share information about 2026 programs.
These include the:
- A new year of learning webpage – information and resources for parents and carers.
- Tips for starting kindergarten webpage – to help families prepare for kindergarten.
- Communicating about your kindergarten webpage – this has information and digital materials. You can share them via your social media, websites and newsletters. These will help you to promote your kindergarten programs and the benefits of 2 years of kindergarten.
- Kindergarten Sector Guide – key information about the Best Start, Best Life reforms, and initiatives such as Pre-Prep and Free Kinder. The guide also has information about supports for children to access kindergarten programs. Such programs include Early Start Kindergarten.
- Kinder: Information in your language webpage – information in 30 languages.
- Kindergarten for Aboriginal children: Koorie Kids Shine program – resources designed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families.
Services can order other free resources through the Victorian Kindergarten Resources Portal. These include Kinder Tick signage and free printed information materials.
Find out more
For more information, refer to the A new year of learning webpage.
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